Knitting-machine



4 Sheets Sheet 1.

110 Model.)

J; TERWILLEG-EB.

KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented May 27, 1884.

T JR.

(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet 2.

, J. TERWILL'E'GER.

- KNITTING MACHINE. N0. 299,498. Patente y 27, 1884.

:"rcns. Photo-UlhcglupMr. Washingwn. u. a

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. TERWI LLEGER.

I KNITTING MACHINE. No. 299,498. Patented May 27, 1884.

ATTE5T- \NVENTUF 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

J. .TERWVILLEGER;

KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 299,498. PatentedMay 27, 1884.

"NVE-NTU R WITNEEEEE' PhnhrLilhognphar, Wah ngion. o c.

the machine.

- UNITED STATES PATENT ()F ICE- JOHN TERWVILLEGER, OF AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE GREENE KNITTING COMPANY, OF NENV YORK.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 299,498, dated May 27, 1884.

Application filed February 8, 1883. (No model.)

I0 for producing automatically on a circular-knit ting machine a circumferentially-striped single-threaded fabric, all as hereinafter more fully described,-and specifically set forth in the claims In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are elevations taken at opposite sides of the post, which carries the loop-wheel and the mechanism for severing the thread and reintroducing the same into the needles of Fig. 3 is a detached plan view of the plate which carries the thread-severing knife. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the said plate, taken on line a: m. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the same on line Y Y.

a 5 Fig. 6 is a plan view taken below the needlecylinder, and illustrating the mechanism for transmitting motion to the thread severing and supplying mechanism; and Fig. 7 is an elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Arepresents the needle-cylinder of what is termed a circular-knitting machine, carrying the bearded needles N in an upright po- 3 5 sition on its periphery.

S denotes the loop-wheel, which is supported on a post, R, at the side of the needle-cylinder, and serves to pass the thread or yarn into the needles, said thread or yarn being conducted to the loop-wheel by a threadguide,

T, arranged at the side of the loop-wheel and having an eye in proximity thereto, through which eye the thread passes.

In knitting single threaded striped fabrics,

I place at each knittingpoint of the needlecylinder two loop-wheels, S S, side by side, and sufficiently near each other to allow them to co-operate with one and the same. set of the usual and well-known mechanism resaid loop-wheels I supply with a set of the' following thread-severing and thread-guiding mechanism: Under the loop-wheel S, I arrange a plate, h, which is secured in position by a vertical shank on the end of said plate bolted to the post B, said plate having across its front end, adjacent to the needle-cylinder, an upward-projecting shoulder, m, which terminates with a square sharp-edged end, 0, for the purpose presently described. Upon top of the plate h slides longitudinally, or at right angles to the shoulder m, aplate, 19, having its front end shaped to correspond to the adjacent side of said shoulder, against which it abuts in its movement. From the said front of abutting end 9 of the sliding plate 19 projects a knife, 19 the cutting-edge of which is in range with the sharp-edged end 0 of the shoulder m, the latter constituting a cuttingedge, which, in conjunction with the knife 10, operates in the form of shears. The sliding plate 1) is guided inits movement by two plates, 8 s, secured to the supporting-plate h at opposite sides of the sliding plate, and fitted thereto with dovetail or overlapping edge, so as to properly hold the sliding plate down upon the supporting-plate. One of the guides,

s, is fastened in its position, while the other 7 guide, 8, is made movable, laterally, in any suitable and well known manner, and is pressed against the edge of the sliding plate by a spring-plate, t, secured to the supporting-plate h, and bearing against the outer edge of the guide-plate. The guide-plate s is thus rendered self-adj usting, to compensate for the wear and abrasion at the edge of the sliding plate.

The thread-guide T, I pivot at its rear end, so as to allow its front end next to the loopwheel to oscillate vertically. Aplate, U, fast- .ened to the side of the post Rand lyingacross the thread-guide, guides and sustains laterally the free end of the latter. WVhen the thread-guide is in its elevated positi0n,the thread is thrown onto the loop-wheel S, and is thus carried into the needles N. By depressing the threadguide the thread is thrown off the loop-wheel and down onto the plate 72, and caused to lie across the same directly back of the shoulder 5o quired in the process of knitting. Each of m thereof. By moving forward the sliding IOO plate 1), the knife 1: thereof, in conjunction with the sharp cdged end of the shoulder an,

severs the aforesaid thread, and the end of the ,Sliding,plate abutting against said shoulder grasps the intervening end of the severed thread, and prevents it from slipping back and drawing out of the eye of the threaduide. b

In order to bring the aforcsaidloop-wheels and their respective threadsevering and threadg ding mechanism alternately into action, so

as to produce circumferential stripes in the fabric, and to effect this automatically with the rotation of the needle-cylinder A. I employ the following instrumentalities: On the hub or spindle A of the needle-cylinder is clamped a collar, B, which has one or more cams, a, pro- ,jecting from it.

end to a post, Z), and having its freeend lying 0 is an arm pivoted at one to swing laterally the distance required for the purpose hereinafterexplained. Upon posts ,or blocks E E, firmly attached tothe table 1 the axis of the needle-cylinder.

or stand plate, is movabl y mounted and guided an annular plate, F, concentrical with This plateis provided or formed with a circular ratchet, G, with which engages a pawl, (Z, pivoted onthe arm 0, before described, and held yielding in its said engagement by means of a spring, 0, which is secured at one end to the bar D or its plate, 0, and bears with its free end on the pawl d. The effect of the devices thus far desoribedis as follows,viz: The cam a on the collar B, fixed to the rotating spindle A, encountering the free end of the arm 0, swings the latter sufficiently to cause the pawl d to push the plate F the distance of one of the ratchet-teeth G. The pressure of the spring 0 on the pawl d forces the arm 0 back to its original dormant position after it is released from the cam a. It will thus be observed that the plate F receives an intermittent rotary motion, the intervals of its movement depending on the number of cams applied to the collar B.

ff denote a series of pins projecting in this case from the under side oi the plate F, and arranged eqnidistantly apart in a circle concentric with the plate. H is a dog for holding the plate F while the pawl (Z moves from tooth to tooth of the ratchet G, said dog consisting of a V-shaped head, I, held yieldingly interlocked between two adjacent teeth of the ratchet, said teeth in this instance consisting of the pins f, before described. It will be observed that the convergent edges of the dog head I will crowd between two of the pins f until both of said pins are brought to bear against the dog, and thus invariably hold said plate in its proper position.

K, K, K, and K represent two sets of segwith certain scribed, transmit motion, respectively, to the oscillating thread-guide T and to the th'readmental cams adjustabliy secured to the top of the plate F, which latter is provided with a series of bolt-holes, i i, arranged around the plate to admit of fastening the cams at differrent pointsin the circumference of the plate,

and thus correspondingly change the action of the levers M and M, which, in conjunction other, means hereinafter desevering mechanism hereinbefore described. Thereare two sets of levers M and M, one set for each loop wheel. Said levers are fulcrumed on a post,'1 secured to the table or stand plate of the machine, and their respective free ends are extended over the top of the disk F. The levers M and Mof one loopwheel are arranged to beactuated by the outor set of cams, K and K,and the lovers of the other loop-wheel reach over the outer set of cams and are adapted to be'act'uated by the innerset of cams, K and K". The opposite end of the lever M is connected with the oscillating thread-guide T by pitman g, and the same end of the lever M is connected with levcrr, which is pivoted on the post It, and

has its upper end connected with asliding plate, 1;.The rotation of the disk F carries the two sets of cams K and K, K and K, successively under the free end of the two sets of levers M and M, and thereby raises said end. 'The resultant depression of the opposite end of one lever draws down the threadoff the loop-wheel S onto the plate 71, The

succeeding depression of the rear end of the lever M swings the lever 2', which in turn pushes forward the sliding plate 1), and first causes the knife p thereof to sever the thread laid on the plate h by the thread-guide, in the manner before described, and after severing the said thread the end of the sliding plate presses the end of the severed thread against the shoulder m, and thus firmly holds the same until the cam of the plate F has passed from under the lever M, when a spring, it, connected with the free end of said lever and with the stand-plate, draws said end of the lever down and causes the same to withdraw the sliding plate from its beforedeseribed position by the medium of the lever r, and thus releases the thread. The cams K and K having also passed from under the levers M, the threadguides T are thrown up by a tractile spring, 1;, connected to the upper portion of the post R and to the rear end of the lever M, and drawing the latter upward. The upper thrust of the thread-guide throws the released thread onto the loop-wheel S, which carries it into the beard of the knitting-needles N.

In order to render the thrust of the levers M M adjustable, so as to produce the proper action of the thread-guide and thread-severin g mechanism, I attach the fulcrum-post P to the stand -plate by means of a screw-threaded shank, P, on the base of the post passing through a suitable aperture in the stand-plate,

' ment from the needle-cylinder, the latter moving the distance from point 1 topoint 2, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, while the plate F moves the distance from one to another of the ratchet-teeth G; hence the needle cylinder travels from one loop wheel past the other loop -wheel, while one set of levers M and M is encountered by the cams of the plate F, and the other set of levers leave their respective cams on the aforesaid plate. The cams K and K are terminated at such a distance from the advancing end of the cams K and K as to cause the levers M and M to be actuated by the cams K and K in time to cause the thread-guide of the loop-wheel No. 1 to feed its thread to the needle-cylinder before the thread of the other loop-wheel S is severed. There is a sufficient distance between the thread-severing knife of loop-wheel No. 1 and the needle-cylinder to leave the requisite length of thread to be taken into the needlecylinder by loop-wheel No. 2, thus avoiding interruption inthe process of knitting' Having described my i nvention,what I claim lS 1. In combination with the needle-cylinder,

needles, and loop-wheel of a knitting-machine,

a thread-supportin g plate arranged beneath the loop wheel, an oscillating thread guide adapted to throw the thread off the loop-wheel onto the aforesaid plate, a stationary shearingblade fixed to said plate, a cutter arranged to move across the shearing-blade, a clamping device for holding the severed thread, and mechanism for operating thethread-guide and thread-severing and thread-clamping devices, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination with the needle-cylinder, needles, and loop-wheel of a knitting-machine, a vertical oscillating thread-guide, a threadsupporting plate arranged beneath the loopwheel and provided with a stationary shearing-edge and with a stationary thread-clamping shoulder, a thread-clamping plate sliding on the threadsupporting plate and having integral with it a cutter arranged in line with 5 5 the stationary shearing-edge, and mechanism for transmitting motion to the thread-guide.w and to the thread-severing and thread-clamping devices, substantially as specified. V

3. In combination with the loop-wheel, the plate h, having the front shoulder, m, with the cutting-edge O on one end thereof, the sliding plate 19, having the abutting-edgep, provided with the knife 10, in range with the cuttingedge O, the 16V6I7,C0]1l160l36d withthe plate 1), the oscillatory thread-guide T, adapted to throw the thread off the loop-wheel onto the plate 19, and mechanism for operating the lever r and the thread-guide, substantially as shown and described. 7o

4. In combination with the plate h, provided with the cutting-edge O, and with the stationary guide 8 and the sliding plate 19, provided with a knife, 12 the adjustable guide 8,

and spring 25, pressing against the outer side of said guide, substantially as described and shown, for the purpose set forth.

5. In combination with the spindle A, needle cylinder A, oscillatory threadguide T, and the within described threadsevering 8o mechanism, the collar B, provided with cams a, the annular disk I", arranged concentric around the spindle and adapted to rotate independently thereof and provided with the ratchet G and pins f f, the arm 0, pivoted outsidetof the disk: F, andhaving the pawl d, engaging the ratchet G, the dog H, the cams K, K, K and K, and the levers M and M, pitman 9, and lever r, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and aflixed my seal, in the presence of two attesting witnesses, at Amsterdam, in the county of Montgomery, in the State of New York.

JOHN TERWILLEGER. n s] Vitnesses:

\VM. W. GREENE, "WM. G. WALDRON. 

